A Prayer for Planting Roots

by Mike Harman
The following is a prayer written by Mike Harmon, one of Element’s elders, for reflection during the Planting Roots Re-mix journey. As you pray during the Re-mix we wanted to offer it to you as way to seek God refocus on Jesus.
 
Father, we ask for your good blessing as we continue on this journey of building a facility as a place for Element to gather and to grow, a place to mature and become a community who would love and influence our city with the gospel. We ask that your gospel would redeem and transform our city as you have redeemed and transformed us.
 
We continue on this journey knowing that any facility we would undertake to build is no substitute for Jesus’ rule and reign. A building is not meant to honor us, cause us to feel good about ourselves, or even to somehow contain Your glory as no building built by human hands could ever do so. We don’t do this for You because we think You need a facility, we do it as a mean for You to continue to reveal Yourself and bring redemption to our community. We recognize that it is Jesus who is building a place for You to dwell, purchased by His blood, and we are that house, that dwelling! Teach us to understand that we, as your people, are being built up into a dwelling place for Your presence and power, that we might become ambassadors and representatives of You in our city!
 
Father increase our faith and our trusting You more deeply through this process of building and moving into our permanent “home.” May we grow in Your likeness through it all. Keep our focus centered on Jesus the author and perfector of our faith, worshiping and rejoicing with thanksgiving at the gift we’ve been given. Teach us live knowing that a facility is nothing more than a tool to facilitate what You are doing in us individually, collectively, and in our city by transforming it by the gospel lived out in and by us.

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. Ephesians 2:19-22 (ESV)
 
You yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 2:5 (ESV)